Comments on: In the news: teachers “working to the rule”

By: Nicole Leggett

Nicole Leggett — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:04:57 +0000

It sounds like another K-8 Needs Assessment must be done. My school, Peninsula, got mostly what it needed. Our K-8 is working, but I can’t stand for any other school to be swept under the “high school reform” rug! All good activist must be on the lookout for diversionary tactics. There must be a check back to the K-8 Implementation Progress. Why don’t we all tell them; it’s time to see how far we’ve come and how far we have to go?

By: S. Wilcox

S. Wilcox — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:11:41 +0000

Go Marcia! The superintendent says that she values teachers, but then proposes changes to our contract IN THE OREGONIAN where this is the first teachers hear of it. Ridiculous! I wish the public knew what we know, not just the “sound bites” Carole wants to let them in on. Working in a K-8, where nothing new in the way of improvements has been put forth for over a year is pathetic. We have been working with the same set of handicaps Ms. Philips left us with, and now the district seems to have moved on to high school reform and left us in the dust. Words cannot accurately express the outrage I feel as a parent and as a PPS teacher.

By: marcia

marcia — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:04:43 +0000

Not to be disrespectful, Ruth, but weren’t you asked to meet with the teacher’s union just to hear their side of these bizarre negotiations, and you refused? Also, the new budget, with five furlough days, was put out by the district, without even mentioning to the union, when negotiations are supposed to be underway for a new contract. Just wondering about all this ..
from a teacher’s viewpoint.

By: Ruth Adkins

Ruth Adkins — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:11:49 +0000

Thanks Carrie, I will google for the report.

Stephanie, I don’t know about the specific programs or approaches planned in special ed, but from the review at the FAO meeting it looks like the extra IDEA funding will be used to accommodate increased growth of higher-needs students (thus avoiding potential cuts in other areas of SpEd), paraeducators, better facilities for SpEd students, professional development and school support.

Staff have been working hard to get clarity from the feds on the rules for how the money may be spent.

According to staff, IDEA is an area where there is a good hope that Congress might actually renew/continue the additional support beyond the stimulus pkg. (Since the original federal commitment was to cover 40% of sped costs, and the stimulus $ only gets them up in the mid-20% range of covering their mandate, this would be a good and appropriate move, to say the least.)

By: Zarwen

Zarwen — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:34:28 +0000

Dale, they will suffer as much as anyone budget-wise. They get only 80% of the per-student funding that regular schools get, and since the whole pie is shrinking, that 80% will have to shrink too.

We really are all in this together.

By: Carrie Adams

Carrie Adams — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:50:35 +0000

Ruth, You’re right, the issue is that principals are not using the resources that they’ve been provided. There’s no excuse for not providing services when the funding is there.

I found the Title I audit on the Office of the Inspector General website. There isn’t a direct link but it’s called Oregon Monitoring Report 2008-09.

Thanks for responding to the issues being raised on this site.

By: Dale Sherbourne

Dale Sherbourne — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:03:58 +0000

How much will the alternative public schools have to cut back,such as charter schools will they avoid budget cuts

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:41:36 +0000

Ruth do you have any information on how the IDEA money will be spent? I have been procrastinating on my feedback for the discipline policy but one of the things I will be recommending is that the stimulus money go into training for positive behavior supports and adopting Oregon Intervention Systems as the district-wide crisis response method. I don’t know if you are aware of the GAO report that just came out on the death and injuries related to seclusion and restraint used in schools. Here is a link http://edlabor.house.gov/newsr.....of-a.shtml. Arne Duncan has said that he will be requiring schools have updated methods and policies on seclusion and restraint including reporting when they occur. Oregon is ahead of the game in regards to reporting because the OAR’s require it but PPS is behind the times in having a consistent crisis response system. I have spent a lot of time in the last ten years in schools and without naming names I can tell you that humiliation, restraint, neglect, forced seclusion, and abusive techniques do happen in this district. One school in particular that is labeled a “behavior school” does not even have a qualified behavior consultant on staff and the brand new teachers are expected to know how to write a behavior plan. I will detail in my policy response how PPS can get in touch with certified OIS trainers. Parkrose and N. Clackamas use OIS and some other districts are starting to adopt it. My opinion is that this would be a great use of the IDEA and timely with the new policy. I have heard other districts in the state are trying to find a way to absorb the IDEA money into the general fund and searching for loopholes.

By: Ruth Adkins

Ruth Adkins — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:21:10 +0000

Susan, it looks like there is a glitch. The enrollment profiles link on the main “schools” page that I mentioned, does connect to the latest (updated 2/09) data. http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schoo.....nrollment/ But, if you first go to an individual school’s page and then click thru to statistics and then enrollment profile, it still goes to the old enrollment data. Thanks very much for catching this, I will let the website people know.

Carrie, thanks for the info and history on the carryover issue. Based on the numbers I’ve seen, which is just for the district as a whole not individual schools, overall the district carryover is well below average (per the Trib article:
“Ric LaTour, an administrator with the Oregon Department of Education, said the federal government requires that school districts spend at least 85 percent of their Title I money. He estimated that the average carry-over among Oregon school districts is about 10 percent.). Last year the district-wide carryover was 3% (700K out of 19 million) and for 09-10 it is estimated at 6% (1.225 million out of 18.9 million). That said, if there are individual schools that are way underspending then that is a problem, so thanks for the heads up.

If you have a link to the 2008 audit that would be great, as I have not seen it. Thanks!

One piece of good news in the budget is the federal stimulus $ for both Title 1 and IDEA (special ed). For Title 1 this is $14.56 million in addition to the main grant. It is one-time money that is required to “supplement not supplant” (ie must be new/additional expenditures, and can’t be used to fill the hole in the general fund budget) and has to be entirely spent this coming year (no carryover allowed). The directive is to avoid “cliffs” (eg hiring additional classroom teachers only to have to lay them off when the funding goes away). The admin cost on this is listed as $167K (1%). Reports must be made quarterly (in addition to reporting for the regular grant) and getting the full amount is dependent on meeting compliance for the first 50%.

Per my notes from the staff presentation on this, the stimulus Title 1 money will be used for (among other things) preK, hiring bilingual staff to work with parents on transition to schools, 3 summer programs (K, 5/6 transition, 8/9 transition), credit recovery, and site-based PD at AYP schools.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:41:09 +0000

“School by school stats are available. On the PPS website front page, click on “schools” and then on “enrollment profiles.” For those wanting more detail, the entire 318-page enrollment data book can be found at http://www.mis.pps.k12.or.us/.docs/pg/10310”

Ruth, thanks for the link to the 2008-2009 stats – something not obviously available from the PPS website. The school-by- school enrollment profiles, although now updated “12/03/08″ still do not include 2008-2009 data. It’s the same information as the last eight months on a new-looking website.